Connectors → All

A connector specifies how the Loader Service connects to an external system or application and ingests data using a certain protocol, service, or Application Programming Interface (API). An instance of a connector with defined properties in a tenant is an External Data Source. You can create an external data source using a connector with the Data Manager. You can also develop your own connector using the Connector SDK.

Connectors Marketplace

The connectors marketplace is available for both Cloud and On-Premises installations.

2024.7.x and 2024.1.7 Enhancements

Starting 2024.7.x and 2024.1.7, when updating the connector, you can select a specific version to install instead of upgrading to the latest version by default. You can also install a custom version of a connector from the Marketplace. You must provide the custom version number shared by Incorta Support.

Cloud connectors marketplace

Starting the 2024.1.0 release, Incorta moved the connectors catalog to the Marketplace tab. With the new Marketplace, you can install a connector, upgrade, and downgrade your connector version independently from any Incorta release.

Important
  • Only SuperUser has access to the Marketplace.
  • You must contact your CMC administrator to enable CData connectors so you can install them from the Marketplace.
  • After upgrading to 2024.1.0, you must contact Incorta Support to assist you with moving any custom SQL connectors that you have configured previously to the appropriate directory. In case of using a Data Agent, you must also copy the custom SQL JDBC driver jars to incorta.dataagent/extensions/connectors/shared-libs/ on the Data Agent host.

In the Marketplace, the connectors are categorized according to their type and functionality. The connectors are displayed as cards within the Marketplace, each card contains the following information:

  • Connector name
  • Connector version
  • Connector category
  • Green tag if it is installed
  • Yellow tag if it is new or has an available update

In a connector details page, you can view a brief description about the connector, a link to the connector’s full documentation, and a list of available updates (if it exists).

Within the Marketplace page, you can search for a connectors name and filter the connectors based on the following, knowing that by default all connectors are displayed:

  • Installation status - Installed or Not Installed
  • Category - Multi-selection for connectors categories
  • Release Status - GA or Preview
  • Connector Type - Incorta Native or CData Powered

For fresh clusters, the following connectors are installed by default:

  • MySQL
  • Oracle
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • Custom CData
  • Custom SQL
  • Local Files

For upgrades from previous versions, used connectors will still exist, yet you must download any other connector that is not associated with a data source.

On-prem connectors marketplace

For on-premises, the connectors marketplace is available starting 2024.1.3. The on-premises Connectors marketplace can operate in two modes: offline and online, where the offline mode is the default.

In offline mode, you must request the files of new connectors from the Incorta Support team. After receiving a connector's .zip file, extract it and place the extracted folder under the following directory in the system tenant path: /marketplace/connectors/.

Considerations for upgrades from releases before 2024.1.3
  • For the offline Marketplace, the connectors’ files must be placed under the /marketplace/connectors/ directory. If this directory does not exist, create it under the system tenant path, which may vary according to Incorta installation. Afterward, you must unzip the ext_connectors.zip file that exists in the Incorta installation package and copy all the connectors’ folders from the unzipped directory to /marketplace/connectors/.
  • Incorta moved the custom CData connectors from <IncortaNode>/extensions/connectors/customCData/ to <IncortaNode>/extensions/connectors/shared-libs/.
  • For custom SQL connectors, you must move your custom SQL JDBC driver jars from <IncortaNode>/runtime/lib/ to <IncortaNode>/extensions/connectors/shared-libs/. In case of using a Data Agent, you must also copy these jars to incorta.dataagent/extensions/connectors/shared-libs/ on the Data Agent host.
  • In case you need additional jars to use with the Oracle connector to support advanced options like XML, you must add or move the necessary libraries from <IncortaNode>/runtime/lib/ to <IncortaNode>/extensions/connectors/shared-libs/sql-oracle/.

An online Marketplace option is also available for on-prem installations to enable schema managers to instantly access available connectors and updates in Incorta. To activate the connectors online marketplace:

  • Log into the CMC.
  • Go to Cluster Configurations > Clustering > Connectors Marketplace Mode.
  • Change the mode from Offline to Online, and then restart both Loader and Analytics services.

Incorta configures the marketplace information by default in the CMC under Cluster Configurations > Integration > Incorta CMS URL and Incorta CMS Token. For further assistance, please contact Incorta Support.

On-Premises clusters behind firewalls

If your on-premises cluster resides behind a firewall, you must allow connections to the following two domains to access the online Connectors Marketplace:

  • incorta-cms-production.incortaops.com
  • storage.googleapis.com/ic-production-bucket

Install a connector

  1. Log in to Incorta as a SuperUser.
  2. Go to the Marketplace > Connectors.
  3. Search for the needed connector.
  4. Select its card.
  5. Select Install.

Upgrade a connector

  1. Log in to Incorta as a SuperUser.
  2. Go to the Marketplace > Connectors.
  3. Search for the needed connector.
  4. Select its card.
  5. Select Upgrade to install the latest version.
  6. (OR) select the down arrow next to the Upgrade button to choose a specific connector version to upgrade to.

Downgrade a connector

  1. Log in to Incorta as a SuperUser.
  2. Go to the Marketplace > Connectors.
  3. Search for the needed connector.
  4. Select its card.
  5. Select the down arrow next to the Upgrade button and choose the connector version you want to downgrade to.

In most cases, you use a connector to create an external data source. To create an external data source, you can use the Data Manager.

Application

Database

File System

Query Service

Data Lake

Custom

Streaming Data

Other

Data File

Note: Files System connector

It is not possible to create an external data source with the File System connector. LocalFiles is a built-in external data source that uses the File System connector. To extract data from a local data file, you can use LocalFiles as the Data Source type for a physical schema table.